THE EAST Lancashire Hospice has launched a £1.3million appeal to build a day therapy unit.

The extension will mean the building, in Park Lee Road, Blackburn, will more than double in size.

Fund raising teams have already begun the huge effort to raise the cash.

One woman knows all about the vital role of the hospice and the good work it does. AMY BINNS reports:

DISTRICT nurse Hazel Thomas understands the work of the hospice better than most. Her father spent several weeks there before he died last September.

Stephen Bentley, a former salesman, was diagnosed as having prostate cancer when he was 75. By May 1997 it had spread to his bones.

His pain gradually worsened despite radiotherapy treatment and his visiting Macmillan nurse, Simon Smart, suggested he try the hospice in May 1998.

Hazel said: "My father was on morphine but it doesn't do anything for bone pain. A lot of drugs for bone pain cause sickness and upset the stomach.

"At the hospice, they could put him on a new regime and monitor how it worked better than if he was at home. They had to try and juggle the tablets to see what was right for him. "He was only in for a couple of weeks but they did really well. They got his pain sorted out and he had a few more months pain free."

Stephen returned to his home in Blackburn Road, Darwen, but by September his pain had worsened so he returned to the hospice for three weeks.

This time, doctors used a syringe driver, which delivers a tiny amount of a drug every few seconds, for continuous pain relief.

Stephen's wife, Janie, spent most of every day with him and Hazel visited daily along with other relatives, sometimes seven or eight people at once.

Hazel said: "They don't just look after the patient, they look after families too. On a hospital ward, everyone's hustling and bustling around but at the hospice they always have time for you.

"They sit and explain everything to you if they change medication, they make you a part of everything and help you to accept what's happening.

"As a nurse, it was important for me to nurse my Dad and I used to help care for him. They knew it was important for me."

Stephen wanted to return home and before he did so, hospice staff arranged for nurses to visit regularly and sent equipment including a special mattress to prevent bed sores.

Hazel said: "When he came home he was not in all that much pain but he had deteriorated. We could all see a difference."

He died three days later at home on October 1, surrounded by his family.

Hazel said: "One of the main things is to make sure a person dies with dignity.

"He was not in pain, he was relaxed and talking right up until the end."

Since then, Hazel and her mother have returned to the hospice to see the nurses again.

Hazel said: "My mum just cried all the time she was there but the nurses didn't mind.

"She was determined to go and I think she needed to. It was a help to her."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.